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#1: Create Conversions With Calls to Action

Make sure you include a call to action in each LinkedIn Publisher post, whether it’s to get more information from another link, contact you, or sign up for a free ebook or white paper. A call to action that speaks directly to your potential, ideal, or current clients will engage your audience and direct them to your funnel.

Include additional information of value with calls to action in your LinkedIn Publisher posts.

People who are successful at generating leads with LinkedIn Publisher do a combination of their own content and sharing links to external resources that both inform and build their credibility. They also include a phone number, email address, or calendar link at the end of the post, so prospects can easily contact them.

Fabrizio makes himself available in his posts by sharing his contact information and including a shortcut to booking a 15-minute call.

Share a calendar link at the end of your LinkedIn Publisher posts.

Sharing a calendar link can be more effective for conversions than just your contact info alone. People may not be ready to talk to you now, but might be open to scheduling a time to speak with you in the future.

#2: Establish Top of Mind Recognition

Visuals can make or break whether people click on your LinkedIn Publisher articles. Cohesive, colorful, well-branded images will draw people to your article and drive them to open it.

Human-resources professional Liz Ryan creates original images for every LinkedIn Publisher post for her company Human Workplace. The images are reflective of the brand, and users know by the visual that it’s a Liz Ryan post. She uses humor and color to tell the story of her posts, which generates positive sentiment. Plus, readers get a sense of what the article is about just by looking at the image.

Liz Ryan’s LinkedIn Publisher images reflect her brand, while giving readers a sense of the article.

Liz’s approach to HR is unique in and of itself, and she uses consistently branded visuals (in her background image, within the post, on her website, in her media, and more) to get noticed.

For your LinkedIn Publisher articles, you can use your own photos or stock photos, or create custom graphics with Canva or PicMonkey. If you’re able to, consider hiring a graphic artist to create something special just for your brand.

To add an image to the top of your LinkedIn Publisher post, click the camera icon in the header and upload your image. LinkedIn recommends a 700 x 400 image for the header. Be sure to add images throughout your post, as well.

Add images that align with your brand to each LinkedIn post.

#3: Support Expert Positioning

If you’re already creating valuable content in the form of blog posts, newsletters, and other articles, you can repurpose content for LinkedIn Publisher. But you’ll also want to create original content for your LinkedIn readers.

One reason to publish original, unique content on LinkedIn audience is to use it as a testing platform. After you publish original content to LinkedIn Publisher, use the feedback to refine the article before you share it on your blog, as an ebook, or on a different platform.

John White, Chief Marketing Officer of Social Marketing Solutions, offers a nice blend of existing content that he has repurposed for LinkedIn Publisher, as well as original content specifically for his LinkedIn audience. John’s most-viewed post, with more than 600,000 views, 600 likes, and 1,900 comments, was repurposed from his master’s thesis.

John White repurposed his master’s thesis into a LinkedIn post, which got massive visibility and engagement.

Unlike what you hear about blogging, on LinkedIn Publisher the more words the better. The magic number seems to be 900-1,400 words. If you’re repurposing a blog post that only has 300 or 400 words, consider expanding your content with more examples and case studies. Or you could combine a few blog posts into one big article.

When creating or repurposing blog content, make use of all of Publisher’s formatting features. It’s best to start with unformatted copy and then apply headers, block quotes, bold, italics, underline, alignment, and bullets (and numbered lists).

Use formatting features to make your blog posts easy to read.

You can also add hyperlinks, images, and video and embed content with the embed code feature. Don’t forget you can add up to three tags to make it easier for people to find your posts.

Add interest to your post with images and video.

The key to creating good content is to have a clear idea of what you have to offer, know your audience and what they need, and then create solutions for them. Remember, good content gets noticed. John has gained 29,000 followers since he started posting. He was at around 1,800 followers before writing his first LinkedIn Publisher post.

#4: Increase the Reach of Your Message

You can’t just post an article on LinkedIn Publisher and expect people to find it. There’s no guarantee you’ll attract a large audience. To help improve the visibility of your content and position yourself as a thought leader who garners more business, promote your Publisher content on your other social networks.

When photography expert Matt Sweetwood first started posting on LinkedIn, he was getting 200 to 400 views per article. After he started actively sharing his LinkedIn Publisher posts on Twitter, he drove his average to 2,000 to 6,000 views per post. The increased visibility resulted in more consulting and speaking opportunities for him. Matt also @tags the Twitter handles of people he thinks would be interested in each article.

Think of your LinkedIn posts as you would a product you’re promoting. Share them on all of your social media sites and share them more than once.

To make it easier for readers to share your Publisher posts, add click to tweet links and LinkedIn sharing links within your posts to make your Publisher articles easy to share.

In order to add a LinkedIn sharing link, you must first publish the article. Then click the icon to share your article on LinkedIn and copy the URL from the pop-up window.

Copy the URL of your LinkedIn post.

Go back and select Edit post. Insert the URL as a hyperlink within the text and save.

Add a hyperlink to make it easier for others to share your articles.

Now it will be easier for readers to share your article with their audiences, increasing your article’s reach.

#5: Develop a Referral Network

When writing a post for LinkedIn Publisher, think about which thought leaders in your industry might be a good fit for the topic, and consider incorporating them in your article. This tactic is a great way to improve engagement, because the people quoted or referenced in your articles are likely to share them with their own networks.

Author Dave Kerpen, founder and CEO of Likeable Media, frequently promotes thought leaders in his LinkedIn Publisher posts, quoting and sharing their thoughts and recommendations. This makes his articles more interesting to read. For this article, Dave asked influencers to share their insights into how someone could land his or her dream job at their company.

Publish posts that underline your connections.

For your articles, you can get quotes from industry experts, interview influencers, or write compilation posts with your favorite articles or techniques from influencers.

Compile posts with tips from other thought leaders.

For instance, compile articles by others that have already been published into a list post, such as “Top 10 Posts on X” or “5 Tools for Y.” Write a paragraph describing what’s in each article, add a photo, and then link to the original post.

Another method is to reach out and ask relevant influencers for a quote or even a paragraph on a particular topic. Be sure to include a headshot and link back to their website.

Whether you reference previously published materials or connect with experts directly, let people know when you include them in a LinkedIn Publisher post, so they can share it, too.

Doing compilation posts with industry influencers is an excellent way to expand your network. You spread the word about who you are and what you do to other influencers, as well as their audience.

In Conclusion

To stand out on LinkedIn Publisher, you’ll want to consistently create valuable content with great visuals. Add appropriate calls to action and then share your posts regularly on all of your social networks.

When people get to know you through your articles, it increases their like, know, and trust factor. And people do business with those people.

What do you think? Do you post on LinkedIn Publisher? What types of articles do you write? Which posts get the best response? How do you stand out? Please share your thoughts in the comments.